Lied about GCSEs now facing an pre employment screening

[LadyV79]

Hi all, please dont judge as Im beating myself up about this and always have but I dont have any GCSE's due to childhood trauma and I didnt sit my exams at all.

I left school in 1995 with no qualifications and had a bit of trouble finding employment due to this so started to lie on my CV of having the basic GCSE passes.

I am currently in employment with a Government ran organisation and have been for 6 years but have been offered another job today which Im thrilled about but have been told I have to have a pre employment screening (I think this is more detailed than a regular DBS check) with Security Watchdog and I have to enter my "highest academic qualification" and Im now really really worried this will be checked and have been so upset as I think my job offer will get taken away.

I know lying is a very bad thing to do but I saw no other way to try and get work and now I am so worried everything is going to fall apart and Im going to lose this job opportunity.

Has anyone had any experience either way with the pre employment screening or this company who does it, will they do it? 1995 was a long time ago so I dont even know if my GCSEs will be relevent anymore. I did obtain a Diploma a few years ago from an online course but doubt I can get away with just having that down as my "highest academic qualification". Guys, I dont know what to do and Im in bits over this. Again, please dont be judgemental, I know Ive done wrong but I just wanted work at the end of the day.

I don’t see how they could check GCSE results from 1995 without certificates which would be over 20 years old by now or you remembering the different subjects and exam boards

They check by asking you to produce the certificates. I did GCSEs in 1996 and have been asked for this in the last few years (despite having a levels and a degree as well)

If op does her GCSEs now surely that just makes things even more complicated as the dates on the certificate will show they’re recent and has been effectively lying about having them before? (Not just for this particular role, I mean in general).

@AlternativePerspective

And nobody has said that the OP is right to lie on an application form. People have said that she needs to not mention her GCSE’s in future. But pre-screening aren’t asking for proof of her GCSE’s, they’re asking for her highest qualification, which is an a-level equivalent.

No, the OP shouldn’t have lied on any application, but suggestion that she should be instantly be dismissed from a long-term job, possibly be rendered unemployable because of said dismissal, and charged with serious fraud is overkill in the extreme.

In this instance a simple “This was a really bad idea because if an employer had found out you could be in serious trouble) would have sufficed in this instance.

She would be dismissed and worse. It’s fraud.

GCSE's only matter when you first leave school. I haven't bothered to put them on my CV since I was about 22

This is not true for all jobs. I’m a teacher and for my most recent job (a senior role), I had to take all certificates to the interview, including GCSE ones from 1992! Since then I have done A levels, a degree, a PGCE and various other post grad certificates, but they still had to see the GCSE ones.

They check by asking you to produce the certificates. I did GCSEs in 1996 and have been asked for this in the last few years (despite having a levels and a degree as well)

I'd be well in the shit then, I've no idea where the certificates are (even if I had them), possibly at my parents place, who knows.

I don't bother putting down my GCSEs and would struggle to remember the grades I got. Must have been enough to get me in to college and university.

Put down the diploma. That's not a lie and it is your highest qualification. Then go to night school and get your English Lit and Lang and your maths asap. You can have them within a year.

I am PMing you too.

Dont let them coerce you in to resigning. I lied about my leaving cert results and was later pressured in to resigning. I felt resentful about that for decades. Havent 100% healed.

My advice, admit it, dont flagellate yourself repeating how very very sorrrrry you are.

You"re not a pilot or a doctor if it's gcse result at stake here.

Good luck. I feel for you. It's so upsetting.

Xx

@CrimsonImp

I don’t see how they could check GCSE results from 1995 without certificates which would be over 20 years old by now or you remembering the different subjects and exam boards

They check by asking you to produce the certificates. I did GCSEs in 1996 and have been asked for this in the last few years (despite having a levels and a degree as well)

I did my GCSEs in 1996 and never received the certificate for one of them (it was my only C, and in a very minor subject, not English or Maths, so I never bothered chasing it up). It was issued by a NI exam board that no longer exists and I've no idea how I would ever get hold of a copy should I need one although I believe another exam board is still able to issue replacement certificates for them. There must be plenty of people with lost certificates that aren't that straightforward to replace, would employers really be bothered with the ballache of trying to track them down?

Put down the diploma, it's your highest love of qualification.

If you're worried about the future please do your GCSEs, it will boost your confidence. Good luck.

I got a new job in education sector and had to provide certificates/statement of results. I had to contact my exam boards as I had mislaid my certs, they were pretty hot on it.

If you want the job you'll need to be honest it perhaps say you believed the diploma was the equivalent.

You then can offer to do that level 2 English and maths at college

Don’t panic, just put the diploma on there as surely Security Watchdog won’t be checking against your cv, they will be checking against what you put on that application form.

They look into previous employment and credit etc as well, they aren’t just scrutinising GCSE results and I’m sure if you have proof of the diploma they’ll just move on to those other bits.

Best of luck!

The government qualification checking system MiAp only goes back 10 years i believe. You'll be fine op.

Just to let you know op, I don't judge you or think you're a bad person.
Try not to worry, and best of luck!

Christ, don’t put them down again.

You can do the maths and English functional skills courses easily and for free. A level 2 is equivalent to a gcse grade c, a level 1 equivalent to a d. Or do the full gcse - also free.

A diploma are.higher than gcses. Just list diploma as your highest qualification. Don't mention gcses. Enquire if they'll fund future courses, might be worth doing in case you ever leave. That way you have actual qualifications.

@PhilCornwall1

They check by asking you to produce the certificates. I did GCSEs in 1996 and have been asked for this in the last few years (despite having a levels and a degree as well)

I'd be well in the shit then, I've no idea where the certificates are (even if I had them), possibly at my parents place, who knows.

I don't bother putting down my GCSEs and would struggle to remember the grades I got. Must have been enough to get me in to college and university.

I found my 'O'level (like GCSEs) grades the other day. Had no idea I had kept them. They were terrible. I was really shocked. I went to a rubbish state school and we missed two terms of GCSE teaching because of strikes and building work. I went on to get great A levels and went to Oxford. These days Oxford wouldn't look at someone with my GCSE grades. I have a lot of sympathy for OP. Your success aged 15-16 is a measure of how good your school and home life are - not much else.

@christdoinghisunspecifiedhobby

In England there are only three main exam boards AQA, Pearson and OCR - who have merged most exam boards.

My friend works for the NHS and needed to track down certs from that time period.

Alot of employers are big on GCSE level. English and maths

Government and local authority sectors can have policies that mean this will be checked. If she lied then her job offer will be withdraw. But her risk is that the prospective employer speaks to current employer or that someone maliciously reports her.

However not telling her employer is also a huge risk. There could be a foot check if qualifications at any time. I’ve been with employers who have done this more than once. Sometimes certificates have been viewed 3 or 4 times in different years. And yes, I have seen what’s happened to the frauds

But the employer is only asking for OP's highest qualification, and she has evidence of that.

Many people don't even know which exam board they sat, so checking can be difficult, as can regaining lost certificates.

I thought I was going to have to apply for my certificates as I couldn't find them following a house, and then job move. Due to teaching I did need to prove my English and maths.

Just trying to work out how to get a replacement certificate was so difficult, especially as many example boards from 1988+ have changed/merged or don't exist and many schools don't have the records from them.

I would just put the diploma down and wait. Re the GCSEs - what's done is done now. Worry about the gcse certificates if they ask for them, rather than before.

The O level and CSE certificates I produced from the mid 70s were about 4 from school which were proper certificates and one from night school which wasn't, it was just a slip of paper but that seemed to suffice though, probably because it was so old, I was asked to produce these about 7 years ago, they must have knew they would be about 40 years old, this was pharmaceutical research sector.

So schools don’t keep copies of exam certificates and to get yours , you’d have to ask the exam boards but you’d have to know which boards to ask. And the chances of you knowing that are pretty slim. And the chances of the school knowing that - due to the elapsed time - are also really slim.

In your position I wouldn’t lie. But I wouldn’t worry either. I can’t see how they’d be able to check it ? If someone knows a way, please say because I’ve got similar problem for someone I’m trying to help ….

Take GCSE Equivalency Tests OP. Our University accepts these (including for teacher training) from a number of online providers (ensure they are reputable). These seem to be popular in the sector: www.equivalencytesting.com/

I found my 'O'level (like GCSEs) grades the other day. Had no idea I had kept them. They were terrible. I was really shocked. I went to a rubbish state school and we missed two terms of GCSE teaching because of strikes and building work. I went on to get great A levels and went to Oxford. These days Oxford wouldn't look at someone with my GCSE grades. I have a lot of sympathy for OP. Your success aged 15-16 is a measure of how good your school and home life are - not much else.

I agree with that last sentence, but your case is not comparable, Cowbells. You presumably had to tell Oxford your O level grades and they made the decision to give you an interview based on your projected/achieved A level grades and possibly performance in their own tests/exam. You didn't tell them you had qualifications you actually hadn't taken.

25 years ago GCSE results were probably less important than they are now for getting a job, so I can understand why OP didn't buckle down and try to get the qualifications in the first years after leaving school. It's far easier now, though, and for the future I'd suggest total honesty about qualifications and take the GCSEs or functional tests if you think it might matter for future applications.

A level 3 course is A level equivalent but online courses may not give full credit. Even do technically that is your highest. However what will you do if they ask for gcse certificates?